Services and APIs

Behind the various new controls in ASP.NET 2.0 lie the foundation services and APIs
that do the heavy lifting needed to enable the controls to do their work. For example,
behind the new Login controls you'll find the new collection of Membership APIs,
which perform such tasks such as user authentication, registration of new users, and so on.
Besides using the new controls, you can directly make use of these APIs in code.

Table 1. New Features in ASP.NET 2.0

Controls

Page Framework

Services and APIs

Data Controls
Includes controls that simplify the connection to data
sources as well as the new GridView and DetailsView controls.

Master Pages
Visual page inheritance for Web Forms.

Membership
The core service for user management, such as user creation,
deletion, authentication, retrieval of passwords, etc.

Site Maps
Supports the retrieval of site information, as well as the display
of site maps.

Navigation Controls
Contains controls that display site information and
menus.

Compilation
Supports dynamic compilation of business logic without the
need for explicit recompilation when the code is changed. Also
supports automatic
generation of web
services proxy class
using WSDL.

Profile
Supports the personalization of websites through the Profile
object.

Summary

In this article, you have seen some of the most important features of ASP.NET. If
you have never developed a web application before, I strongly encourage you to
take ASP.NET 2.0 for a spin today. You will be amazed at how easy it is to start
building compelling applications with so little effort. Of course, one of the easiest
ways is to grab a copy of my book and spend a few good afternoon trying out all the
features. Have fun!